Loosing data is the last thing anyone would want. Now you're probably in a lot of mental pain, and all you're concerned about is recovering your data as quickly as possible. The time for preventive measures has gone – the issue at hand is data recovery.

Data is gained with lots of pain. Some use web scraping software to collect data from different internet sources. Hence there should be a way to get your data back.

First – a simple tip could save a lot of money. Taking your Rolodex and get a group of your tech-savvy friends. If you are lucky, they will offer to help, and if you're really lucky, they might even have some disk recovery software.

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If you are lucky, then get out your wallet or purse out now … because this will cost. Also, be prepared for a lot of time being wasted – data recovery can take a long time.

The first thing to establish is what exactly is wrong with your hard disk:

Either your computer will not boot, or

Your computer boots up OK but you cannot see one of your other drives.

Let's see if we can eliminate the worst scenario. Listen closely to your hard drive – if it makes some sort of weird noise, such as scratching, scraping, ticking, etc.?

If so, then your drive is physically damaged and the only hope you have is to take it to a data recovery service where experts might be able to get your data off for you. This service is expensive and time-consuming – so you need to make a judgment call for the value of data on the disk:

If it's just you save game data or downloaded music files you want to back up, you probably better off kicking yourself for not backing up and accept the loss of data.